Page 259 - Michael Frost-Voyages to Maturity-23531.indd

Writer as Chief Officer on West Star

9 Postscript

fter gaining my law degree, I thought that gaining Articles would be
Aeasy enough (it is necessary to struggle through a year of Articles
before one can apply to be called to the B.C. Bar). I was wrong. There were only
three law firms in Vancouver that enjoyed practices that emphasised maritime law,
and of course, I applied to all three (plus a few miscellaneous firms of generally
good repute), but the tumbling-over-themselves to obtain my services seemed
not to occur. Fortunately, I eventually received an offer, which I immediately
accepted, from Macrae, Montgomery, Spring and Cunningham, the firm, ‘led’ by
Captain Jack, that was in fact my prime target. The year completed I was called to
the B.C. Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor (the Canadian way of doing things being
in my opinion far more logical than the clumsily bifurcated British system of a
divided profession) in 1976, my parents coming from England for the occasion.

I was delighted to see that the rather disorganised office environment that I
knew from Leadenhall Street found no parallel in Vancouver. The office was
superbly managed, the staff were equipped with the latest equipment (P&O had
still used ancient Remingtons!), tight control was kept over time spent on files, and
individual expertise, such as mine, was encouraged. I even found some familiar
stuff; within a week of joining the firm I found myself in the lower hold of Massimino
d’Amico, a scruffy cargo vessel that had filed a Note of Protest over some shifting
and damaged cargo. I have earlier mentioned that office life in London was a bit

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